The past, present and future
by WrightAnythingAgency
Summary: Miles Edgeworth and Phoenix Wright get stuck in a lift (Elevator) during a power cut and Phoenix gets the prosecutor talking to allay his fears.


So this is a little different from my other fic, this one's set some time after Justice for all, sort of an experiment whereby I started out with the idea that Edgeworth and Phoenix get stuck in a lift together and just let the story write itself from there.

I don't own any of the characters, there are tiny justice for all and the first ace attorney game spoilers but nothing major and for those who don't know British English : lift – elevator, mobile – cell phone and torch – flashlight.

Miles Edgeworth entered the lift with the same trepidation he always had when being forced to do so, the maintenance crew had blocked off the stairs he preferred to use to make some repairs.

As he pressed the button for the floor he required he heard someone running towards the lift calling out "Hold it!"

Recognising the voice he sighed as Phoenix Wright got into the lift and pressed for his floor. "Thanks Edgeworth" he told the prosecutor who didn't bother to reply.

As the lift made its assent the light began to flicker above them and Edgeworth grabbed on to the rail a little tighter hoping it was just the bulb going.

A floor below his destination the lift halted and the lights shut off. 'No…No… Not again and with Wright here' he thought desperately feeling the fear take hold and memories flash before his eyes.

Phoenix was less perturbed by the sudden lift breakdown having lived in a block of flats where lift breakdowns were a common occurrence.

He grabbed his phone and went to call the maintenance crew before uttering "Why can't you ever get a signal in a lift?" pressing an app on his phone that turned it into a torch and was shocked to see the usually reserved Prosecutor on the floor in a ball looking haunted.

"Edgeworth" he called softly whilst crouching down to Mile's level. The Prosecutor didn't seem to hear him.

Trying to bring him back in the room the defence attorney shone the mobiles torch light in the face of the other man.

Blinking suddenly Phoenix could see Edgeworths focus come round a little. "Wright..." he managed to whisper.

"It's ok, we'll be out of here soon" he assured Miles assuming he was in need of help.

"No... Get that infernal light out of my eyes!" he managed to say a little louder this time.

Wright put the phone down between them and sat against the wall of the lift next to Edgeworth, thinking he'd made some progress not knowing the focus it had taken just to talk to Phoenix, receding back into his memories.

"Edgeworth focus!" Phoenix called out assertively gripping the man's shoulder tightly.

The prosecutor slowly turned his head to look at wright, face screwed up in the concentration on fighting for control.

"You can do it!" Phoenix urged him on.

"Don't...patronise me...wright" He retorted agitatedly. Phoenix didn't care; it was working no matter what Miles had said.

A few minutes later Edgeworths outer demeanour was one of control even if he was still in turmoil mentally.

"What are the odds of this happening again after all this time?" he found himself saying out loud when he meant to just think it.

Phoenix shrugged assuming the words were directed at him. "Lifts break down all the time"

"You know full well what I meant" he snapped "Last time this happened my whole world fell apart"

"I know…" replied the defence attorney "But look at you now... well not right now but in general, I heard you are tipped to be the next chief prosecutor"

Edgeworth smiled sardonically. "You know before von karma took me to Germany I was actually aiming to be a defence attorney" Edgeworth didn't know why he was telling Wright any of this, maybe it was a way with blocking the fear by concentrating on the conversation.

"Really? What made you decide to change your mind?"

He paused, for years he had always had that one reason for becoming a prosecutor but now... "I... always thought it was because criminals need to be put away, but I'm not so sure whether it was really my choice anymore"

Phoenix looked at him quizzically. "I'm not sure I follow"

Edgeworths sighed in exasperation. "When I was taken to Germany, I didn't know what Von Karma had done, I just thought he was my father's friend who took me in" he began to explain. "He would teach me that being a defence attorney was not a noble cause"

Phoenix looked at him with indignation.

"His words not mine Wright, he said defending criminals was not a perfection I should be going for and pretty much moulded me into his own image. His ideals became mine because who else was there to tell me otherwise, he was a well thought of intelligent man, no reason to broach him on the subject."

"I wanted to... I suppose impress him is the best way to describe it, he took me in and he didn't have to, I wanted to repay his actions and make him proud" he trailed off the end of the sentence.

"I still don't understand why he did that" Phoenix told him "Not knowing what we know now"

"To get back at my father for tarnishing his record I suppose, von karma was furious at him for costing him a penalty, I remember seeing his face as the judged handed him that penalty point, I've never in all my years see someone lose their rag like he did that day"

Phoenix looked incredulously "Because he got a penalty? I get those quite often, doesn't bother me, all about perseverance. Besides..." he carried on unsure of what Edgeworth would think about his statement. "Doesn't winning every case for 40 years sound a little I don't know...dodgy? Surely someone must have been wrongly accused in that time?"

"This is coming from someone who has also never lost a case, besides if you went out and did what von karma did every time you lost a penalty, the city's population would be halved." Miles pointed out.

"Ouch Edgeworth!" he mocked winced at the Prosecutors verbal jab at him. "I have the option to choose my clients, I only defend those who are truly innocent, people I can believe and trust in. Von Karma being a state prosecutor did the cases that were handed to him by the chief prosecutor; he had no say in what cases he took, that's how it works right?"

Edgeworth nodded "A valid point I suppose, there were always rumours being bandied around about evidence being forged, I knew he was ruthless in his pursuit of victory but I never knew anything about said forgeries."

"You didn't?" Phoenix eyed him suspiciously.

"Of course not Wright!" he retorted indignantly. "I would sometimes be handed evidence by my mentor but back then I thought the rumours that surrounded him were no more than baseless conjecture."

Phoenix's plan to keep him talking, to take his mind off of his fears seemed to be working although he wasn't sure what to say next so decided to put the cat amongst the pigeons a little more.

"He really went overboard though, all those things he did just because of one penalty, not even beat him in court, just one measly penalty."

Miles frowned looking darker than Wright had ever seen him. "You think I don't know that?!" he hissed through gritted teeth.

Phoenix shrank a little wishing he'd been a little more tactful. "I…I'm sorry, it's just, well… you're so different from the boy with the fire in his eyes who defended me in class all those years ago, I guess I'm angry at what that man did too" he stammered.

Edgeworths glare softened slightly. There was no quick response from the prosecutor this time, after what Phoenix would class as an awkward silence, Edgeworth hesitated slightly and began "After 15 years of being a von karma and thinking I was to blame for my fathers… demise, of course I would change, it would change anyone."

Phoenix nodded understandingly, noticing as more time elapsed, the stuffier the room was becoming, he undid the top button of his shirt and loosened his tie.

"I know…" he replied softly. "But you can't let the past or him dictate your future."

Edgeworth didn't respond,

"Why did you disappear after that?" Phoenix asked, the question brought back how he felt at the time, furious at the Prosecutor, he'd even snapped at Maya for mentioning him in front of Franziska von Karma.

"I told you before" he replied quietly "After what you did I questioned just what being a prosecutor meant, I was always taught winning is everything but it isn't right to pursue and guilty verdict on someone who is clearly innocent, look at Von Karma, he was my mentor and father figure for all those years and he still went and framed me and went after a guilty verdict even though he knew I was innocent, how many other innocents had he put away or worse faced the death penalty because of him? You showed me that getting to the truth was the most important thing not winning, we can't just play god with people's lives for our own gain. Besides I didn't expect people to be so concerned."

"Not concerned?" Phoenix repeated softly with a hint of incredulities. "We thought you had left a suicide note! Everyone besides Franziska had thought you had died! Even then I'm unsure as to how much she believed her own theories at the time."

A brief pause was followed by Edge worth's almost inaudible voice "I'm Sorry"

"Where did you end up going?" he asked.

"I went travelling, studied various countries court systems, and also used the time to decide where I go from here"

The illuminated lift went suddenly dark, Phoenix felt for his phone. "Damn batteries died" he muttered.

Silence fell and Phoenix could tell even in the darkness Edgeworth was beginning to give in to his fears again, he didn't know what to do and was running out of things to say, the lift was getting stuffier and he began to notice the air getting a little thinner.

He pocketed his phone and scooted next to the prosecutor a bit more, the silver haired man was rocking back and forth curled up in his ball of fear.

Not knowing what else to do and without really thinking about what he was doing Phoenix put his arm round the prosecutor, expecting some sort of reaction out of him, but there was no objection which surprised the defence attorney.

As Edgeworth continued to rock back and forth, Phoenix rubbing his upper arm in a comforting manner and after a while the Prosecutor became still and realised what was happening.

"Wright?" he asked

Phoenix pulled his arm away and moved away slightly. "Er … Sorry" he mumbled embarrassed.

Had the lift not been pitch black he would have seen that Edgeworth was equally as red.

"No… It helped" Edgeworth surprisingly admitted.

The lights blinked a few times before coming on fully, blinding the occupants of the lift temporarily before it whirred back into life moving up to the next floor, the two men quickly got up, both looking very relieved the power cut had ended.

The doors dinged as they opened and Edgeworth got out. "Wright you tell anyone anything that transpired in that thing …" he warned without any real venom.

Phoenix shook his head "Scouts honour!" making some sort of 'cross my heart gesture'.

"You were never a scout" he replied as the door closed leaving Phoenix to head up to an upper floor.

Like I said little experiment fic, please do review it inspires me to write more, thanks – W.A.A.


End file.
